West news briefs: Excelsior farmers market opens in new location

The Excelsior farmers market is starting its 2013 season Thursday, May 16, in a new location on Water Street.

The weekly market opens at 2 p.m. and will include everything from food trucks and plant growers to musicians and community groups.

The market also will include a new youth summer program, "Budding Farmers Program," for children ages 3-10. The 10-week program, which starts in July, educates children on seasonal fruits and vegetables and includes educational lesson plans, recipes and games.

For more information or to sign up, go to www.budding farmers.com or visit the Budding Farmers on Facebook.

The city of Plymouth will host a workshop next week for residents interested in learning more about watershed management, stormwater runoff and rain gardens.

The event will take place from 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, at the St. Barnabas Lutheran Church, 15600 Old Rockford Road, followed by a native plant sale from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 25, at the church.

The workshop and plant sale are sponsored by the city, Metro Blooms and the Bassett Creek, Elm Creek, Shingle Creek and West Mississippi Watershed Management organizations.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Minnetonka will host its fourth annual "Summer Block Party" on June 1.

The event, which is free and open to the public, starts with a "polka mass" at 4:30 p.m., followed by live polka and folk music, bingo, carnival games for children, a classic car exhibition, a beer garden and grilled food in the parking lot at 5:30 p.m.

The church is located at 13505 Excelsior Blvd. For more information, go to www.ihmcs.org/parish.asp.

The Catholic church is also starting a new Catholic school for the west metro suburbs called Notre Dame Academy. For more information on the pre-K through eighth-grade school, go to www.nda-mn.org.

The city is seeking volunteers to do spring weeding around lilacs on Saturday, May 25, from 9 a.m. to noon.

People who want to be involved but who can't kneel to work can help with check-in that morning.

Volunteers should RSVP to Sandy Werts, Golden Valley volunteer coordinator, by e-mailing swerts@goldenval leymn.gov, by calling 763-512-2341 or by signing up online at www.goldenvalleymn.gov/events/lilacplanting/index.

Older adults and younger people with a disability can submit up to two poems to the city's fourth annual poetry contest, run by the Human Services Division Senior Program.

Entries must include a separate cover sheet with the poem's title and information on how to contact the author. Entries can be submitted through July 5 at Creekside Community Center, 9801 Penn Av. S.

Awards will be given for first through third place, plus five honorable mentions. A reception for winners and participants will be held on Aug. 17.

Bloomington's Book'Em used book sale, one of the largest used book sales in the state, this year will be moving to the location of the old Border's bookstore at 810 W. 78th St., near the intersection of Interstate 494 and Lyndale Avenue in Richfield.

The sale, which features tens of thousands of used books, CDs, puzzles, games and software, is run by volunteers and benefits Bloomington crime prevention programs.

Donations are being accepted Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., through June 15. Donations will not be accepted on Memorial Day.

The sale runs from June 8-22, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Admission to the preview sale on June 7, which runs from 5 to 9 p.m., costs $10.

For more information, go to www.bcpamn.org, the sale's Facebook page at http://www.startribune.com/a2229, e-mail bookem@bcpamn.org or call 952-220-2537.

Lunch starts at 11 a.m. with a shotgun start to the tournament at noon. After the tournament, a reception with a silent auction starts at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m.

The event is open to both chamber members and nonmembers at a cost of $175 per golfer or $675 per foursome. Attend a reception and dinner only for $40, and $20 for an additional lunch.

Preregistration is required. For more information, go to www.bloomingtonchamber.org or contact Anna Stinson at 612-370-9123 or astinson@bloomingtonchamber.org.

The Bloomington Civic Theatre will present "Art" in the Black Box Theater of the Bloomington Theatre and Art Center May 17-June 9.

The story revolves around three friends who find their previously solid 15-year friendship on shaky ground when one of them buys an expensive piece of abstract art. The winner of the 1998 Tony Award for Best Play, "Art" is the story of a simple white canvas with an expensive price tag and its cost in friendships.

The Black Box Theater is located in the Bloomington Center for the Arts at 1800 W. Old Shakopee Road in Bloomington.

Thousands of perennial and annual plants and vegetables will be for sale at the Hennepin County master gardener plant sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 18, at the Hopkins Pavilion, 11000 Excelsior Blvd.

Plants include native and heirloom plants and "Minnesota Winner" annual vegetable and flower varieties that have taken top honors for production, showiness and hardiness in 30 years of trials by University of Minnesota master gardeners.

Most of those plants are not available elsewhere as seedlings. Master gardeners will also be on hand to answer gardening questions.

Admission is free. For more information, go to http://hen nepinmastergardeners.org/events/plant-sale.

The sixth annual "Wine on Wayzata Bay" will take place from 6:30-9:30 p.m. June 28 at the Wayzata Yacht Club. It will include more than 150 wines, hors d'oeuvres from local restaurants, live music, a silent auction and sailboat rides at sunset.